Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is a major cause of liver injury and dysfunction after extended liver resection, liver transplantation or hemorrhagic shock. The process of liver repair and regeneration following hepatic I/R injury involves interactions between several cytokines and growth factors to stimulate hepatocyte proliferation and to restore liver mass. CXC chemokines are known to be important for these processes and previous work has demonstrated that the chemokine receptor, CXCR2, regulates liver recovery and regeneration after I/R injury. While several growth factors are known to be critical for liver regeneration, whether liver parenchymal cells can communicate with one another to promote regeneration is unknown.
Liver repair and regeneration after ischemia/reperfusion injury is of major clinical interest. The need persists to develop improved compositions and methods for repairing and regenerating the liver after liver injury.